Day Skipper Practical Sailing Course
If you’re planning a flotilla holiday or bareboat charter holiday, this is the course for you. This course is for people who wishes to sail a boat on their own with friends or family on board.
This is a practical course for sailors with significant previous sailing experience (a minimum of five days sailing and living on board, 100 miles logged and four hours night sailing is required) and a comprehensive understanding of the theory behind the practice.
This course gives you the chance to take charge on short passages under instruction. You will concentrate on boat handling, seamanship and navigation.
The course will teach you basic practical skippering techniques which will enable you to skipper a yacht on short coastal passages by day, in both tidal and non-tidal waters. As a skipper you'll be responsible for the management of a yacht, and therefore the course includes elements of meteorology, engine checking, passage planning, preparing the yacht for sea and rules of the road.
If you need a Day Skipper certificate in order to work on board a commercial craft subject the MCA's codes of practice, you will need to get it commercially endorsed.
You can then work on commercial vessels up to 24m in length, operating in category 5 and 6 waters - that is up to 20 miles from a nominated departure point in fine weather and daylight.
Current price: 750 eur. Combined Package with Essential Navigation and Seamanship: 900 EUR
Required experience
5 days, 100 miles, 4 night hours on board a sailing yacht, Navigation to Day Skipper Shorebased and basic sailing ability.
Assumed Knowledge: Basic navigation and sailing ability, Tidal heights, tidal streams, Estimated Position, Course to Steer, basic passage
planning, compass bearings, clearing bearings, 3 position fixes and knots. A basic understanding of IRPCS rules, lights and shapes.
Required theory level: Day Skipper Shorebased or at least Essential Navigation and Seamanship
Minimum duration
5 days, 3 weekends or 3 days plus 2 days. Typically we start on Sunday evening at 18.00 with a presentation, course introduction and Safety briefing. We continue from Monday morning to Friday afternoon at 17.00 until all the chapters in the curricula are successfully covered.
Minimum age
16
Certificate issuing criteria
Assessment is based on how well you have performed your practical and navigation tasks during your time on board. There is no final exam! If your instructor declares that you are competent and safe to take a small yacht out to sea in calm conditions, you will be completed the course. After you succeed you will get the RYA Day Skipper Practical photo-ID certificate, which can be used to charter a yacht in most areas of the world. Depending on their country of residence, holders of the Day Skipper practical certificate can gain an International Certificate of Competence (ICC) without any further training or assessment.
Content
Preparation for sea, deck work, navigation, pilotage, meteorology, rules of the road, maintenance and repair work, engines, victualling, emergency situations, yacht handling under power, yacht handling under sail, passage making, night cruising
What will you learn:
Format
This course takes place aboard the school boat and is residential (students sleep onboard for minimum 4 nights).
A collection of useful videos for this course can be found in this Playlist on Eurosail Youtube channel.